HDF/2024

Welcome message from Jim Moran

AND Digital's Halifax Club Executive, Jim Moran, kicked off the day by outlining his hopes and aspirations for the festival and beyond.

Welcome Message from Tracy Brabin, West Yorkshire Mayor

A Warm welcome from Councillor Silvia Dacre, Calderdale representative for West Yorkshire Combined Authority

Councillor Dacre set the stage for the festival, showcasing the importance of digital skills within the regional tech economy and shared more on the digital divide and skills gap, and how we can all play our part in closing it.

I Don't Even Play Computer Games

Attendees were challenged on their perceptions of what digital skills are and who can have them. We shared varied experiences and anecdotes at a panel discussion on how digital skills can be adopted by anybody who has the ambition to learn, regardless of background, experience, or sector. A truly empowering talk!

From interruption to integration: the power of learning in a digital world

Learning and Development specialists showcased how you and your organisation could get on board with self-led learning when it comes to digital skills, what this means for you, and how it can accelerate your personal development and business growth. Whether you're a leader, curious about digital or a professional looking to further your knowledge - there was something for everyone!

Breakout Sessions

• Breakout : "Want a Job in Digital? No Problem!"

  Curious about digital opportunities? This panel discussion touched on how to explore what digital jobs and careers are out there and how to find one that you might enjoy, based on your interests, ambitions and values.

• Breakout : How to recruit top tier talent outside of the big city

  What makes people accept that Job offer and look to apply to your organisation in the first place? From benefits and progression routes to opportunities to grow skills - how might business leaders and other recruiters get better at hiring (and retaining) the best people. An informative, interactive discussion from experienced local recruiters on how location doesn't necessarily matter.

What do you mean Accessibility isn't optional?

How might we all learn a bit more about accessibility and how digital skills might be shaped by having better accessibility knowledge? This refreshing and eye opening talk was about why accessibility isn't optional and how we could be excluding customers from our products and services, as well as losing money through our lack of accessibility awareness and pro-activity. Eye-opening!

A closing message from Good Things Foundation

Their mission is to enable the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in society to lead better lives with digital. Since 2010, they have supported over 3 million people to improve their lives through digital.

Closing remarks from Jim Moran

HDF Marketplace: 'Meet the Employer'

For seasoned tech professionals, those returning to work, students or graduates, or those simply looking to change career: Halifax Digital Festival Marketplace gave attendees the opportunity to meet with businesses and organisations from Halifax and the Calderdale region to see what's available in the area.

From senior tech roles to apprenticeships and boot camps, to just wanting to know how to go about upskilling your tech capability on a personal level, there was something for everybody.

Why is GenAI at the forefront of Digital?

This keynote on why GenAI is at the forefront of the conversation in Digital and beyond, and why it's more important than ever to be informed on how we might best use Generative AI kicked us off on day two.

"Is GenAI coming for my Job?"

What is GenAI? Where does it come from? Is it really coming for our jobs?! Is this a new thing? Why are people talking about it so much? We found out by looking back at the past to predict our future. A TED-style talk.

"You should have used AI for that"

How much can you trust AI tools when it comes to making important decisions? When should you use AI to do things? We are overwhelmed with options, but are they really all useful? A panel discussion and interactive session on how AI can be used to support productivity and creativity - and when to be wary of misinformation and the dangers of over-reliance.

Ethical AI - How is AI being used in Education?

How might you be inspired? This panel discussion shone light on what the Department for Education and Calderdale College have done to embrace AI, what their journeys look like, and what challenges and barriers they have faced working with this evolving and complex technology in the education sector.

Reproducible Analytical Pipelines For All!

Data underpins so many aspects of the digital realm, from customer insight to large-scale machine learning, but we can never forget the age-old truism: garbage in, garbage out. Having control of data processing is critical to the quality of the end product. We learnt about some tried and tested (yet lightweight) patterns, tools and techniques to manage data. The emphasis was on simple approaches within the reach of any sized team, rather than enterprise-class data warehousing componentry.

AI literacy - what have we learned so far? With Good Things Foundation

Good Things Foundation has been exploring the connection between essential digital skills, media literacy, and AI literacy and the impact on communities. Rob shared his insights on how this is shaping our approach to AI literacy with people who have low or no digital skills and the communities that support them.

Embracing the AI Revolution: Transforming Product Design

In this talk we explored the rapid evolution of GenAI and how it's fundamentally changing the landscape of product design. Moving beyond the current view of AI as a mere add-on to a product, we delved into how AI, particularly with recent advancements like ChatGPT-4o, will enable us to solve problems in unprecedented ways. This paradigm shift towards pervasive AI requires a new way of thinking if we're to fully harness its potential. We discussed practical strategies for integrating AI into product development to create truly innovative solutions that address real user needs.

Breakout: Interactive AI: Unleashing the Power of Technology

An interactive demo that showcased how advanced AI software allows you to customize interactions tailored to your specific needs. Designed to transform how you interact with information, this AI business toolkit empowers users to have bespoke conversations and efficiently create insightful visualizations from their documents in just moments - streamlining analysis and making administrative tasks effortless.

During the session, three uses were demoed:

• Heritage: bringing historical documents to life, revealing new insights.
• Technical: Breaking down intricate manuals and secondment updates relevant to your specific needs, making vast technical knowledge easily understandable.
• Business: Harnessing personalized capabilities like automatic report generation and precisely targeted data visualizations configured to improve specific aspects of your business intelligence.

This customisable AI toolkit can revolutionize workflows, elevate productivity, and unlock personalized creativity. Attendees witnessed firsthand how custom interaction sets the new standard for artificial intelligence.

Winning experiences in the Banking Industry

Governance, regulations and red tape? No problem - Lloyds Banking Group shared some of their biggest challenges, wins and anecdotes on how they created the best user experiences across their Homes platform products and services.

Be inspired: How do the Public Sector put their users first?

This panel discussion dissected what we can learn from Public Sector approaches. We explored the government Digital Service, user centred design approaches and multi-disciplinary teams. A whole new way to drive meaningful change for your customers.

"Are we nearly there yet?"

A lighthearted, inspiring talk on why transformation and change is a constant journey rather than a destination, and how to make the most of the ride with your customers at the wheel. Attendeed discovered new ways to think about change and what it might mean for them and their organisation.

Breakout Sessions

• Breakout : An audience with - User Centred Designers

  This panel discussion was a Q&A with professionals that have had highly successful careers in this space. It was a rare opportunity to find out more about user centred design, and the personal experiences and career journeys of some of the most experienced people in this industry. Attendees saw how user centred design might work for them and their organisations, as well as how they might attract the right people to focus on their customer centric goals and ambitions.

• Breakout : Key ways to develop a global customer focus: With the Department for Business and Trade and Browndog

  A discussion and Q&A about how you can keep your customers at the heart of your business while you scale to global heights. Attendees discovered the key steps in international expansion and how to get the very best out of their digital channels as they increase international reach.

  We covered: How businesses can utilise online presence to grow their customer base; How they can best use their budget to promote their service or product, and keep their customers close at the same time as selling in new markets overseas.

Close of proceedings of the Halifax Digital Festival

There's a lot to be proud of in Calderdale and West Yorkshire when it comes to digital knowledge and innovation. We wrapped up the festival with closing thoughts, key reflections, some very important thank yous, and some thoughts on how we might continue to move forward at pace together.